Welcome back! Join us as we kick off a year of thinking and learning at Faculty Fusion on Friday, August 17, 2018. Friday morning we’ll offer sessions on various teaching strategies, and then, on Friday afternoon, we’ll have an extended training session with Sally Gary, focusing on extending hospitality and welcome to our students. We look forward to thinking and learning with you. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided.

You can RSVP for activities here, by emailing rsvp2ac@acu.edu, or by calling the Adams Center at 325-674-2455. Registering saves your spot in each session and allows us to know how many to expect. We look forward to seeing you!

8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast: Adams Center9:00-9:50 Session 1

The Dangers of Teacherless Online Courses: Humanizing Your Online ClassroomBerlin Fang
You have probably heard — or even experienced — some “teacherless” online courses that reduce the learning experience to reading and quizzing, including little interaction and community building. Join us to learn ways to “humanize” your online courses by adding more social presence while enhancing learning.

Socratic Seminars: Cultivating Critical ThinkingJenn Rogers and Julie Douthit
The Socratic seminar method is an interactive seminar model used to promote critical thinking that provides a safe environment where students can engage in meaningful and respectful dialogue. Join us to hear how we’ve used it in our classroom and learn techniques to integrate into yours.

Igniting Creativity in your Classroom: Adobe Education Exchange Marisa Beard
The Adobe Education Exchange helps ignite creativity in classrooms worldwide by connecting the education community through professional development, teaching resources, and peer-to-peer collaboration. Everyone at ACU has access to Adobe Education Exchange — come to find out how it can enhance your teaching and learning experience.

10:00-10:50 Session 2

“But I Read the Chapter Four Times…”: Overtly Incorporating the Science of Learning in your classroomLory Chrane and Amy Boone
Students often enter our classrooms with little understanding of how they learn. Join us as we dispel student studying myths, explore the science of how the brain learns, and consider ways to help students master material.

Wit and Wisdom from 2017-2018 Teachers of the Year Andy Little, Rodney Ashlock, John Boyles, John Homer, Andrew Huddleston, David Perkins
ACU has excellent teaching all over campus. Join us for a panel discussion and conversation on excellent teaching, where we’ll talk about both successes and flops.

What did you read during your summer vacation? Laura Carroll
Come to find out what we’ll be reading in our three reading groups this fall and share what’s been on your reading list this summer, from heady academic reads to pulpy beach fiction.

11:00-11:50 Session 3

“But I Read the Chapter Four Times…”: Overtly Incorporating the Science of Learning in your classroomLory Chrane and Amy Boone
Students often enter our classrooms with little understanding of how they learn. Join us as we dispel student studying myths, explore the science of how the brain learns, and consider ways to help students master material.

Socratic Seminars: Cultivating Critical ThinkingJenn Rogers and Julie Douthit
The Socratic seminar method is an interactive seminar model used to promote critical thinking that provides a safe environment where students can engage in meaningful and respectful dialogue. Join us to hear how we’ve used it in our classroom and learn techniques to integrate into yours.

Video Lectures with Camtasia: Learning Studio
Faculty across campus are producing video lectures to present content, introduce a project, or demonstrate new skills. Come to hear from faculty who use video to support student learning and the software that makes it all possible.

LUNCH

1:00-4:00 Session 4

Fostering Belonging: Creating hospitable classroom spaces for LGBTQ students: Sally Gary and Laura Carroll
As a faith-based university, it is essential that our classrooms are spaces of belonging for all students. Not only is belonging essential to the ability to learn, it allows us to model Christ in our classrooms, and it creates an environment of trust among students and faculty.

Please join us as Sally Gary and Laura Carroll lead an afternoon of Christ-like conversation, grace-filled dialogue, and respectful disagreement, where we will consider how to welcome others well at ACU.

The conversation with Sally Gary will continue on Saturday morning at the Adams Center from 9:30-noon, including table discussions with staff and students.

Online courses are becoming increasingly attractive for colleges due to the flexibility they provide, space they save, and the opportunity faculty have to reflect on multiple modes of delivery. However, online teaching is much more than just putting your slides online and having a few online discussions. Good course design is essential to student learning outcomes: how can you keep technology from being a hindrance? what is appropriate load? Is the course accessible? How do I orient students to the course? To answer these and many other questions, we invite you to come to these two-day camp (Tuesday, May 29-Wednesday, May 30, 2018), during which the Adams Center will work with you to help make your online course more effective, efficient, and appealing. Click here for your packing list. Please RSVP to rsvp2ac@acu.edu or call (325) 674-2981 to reserve your spot.

Camp Packing List:

-Your syllabus (digital and paper)
-A laptop computer
-Smartphones, iPads, or other devices you use to access a course
-Assessments you usually require in class
-Assignments you usually require in class
-Any pills that may help with allergies to technology
-In lieu of bug spray and itch relief, make sure your computer and devices are “bug-free” and ready to use. If needed, work with Team55 before the camp, as we will not be able to fix specific computer problems during the camp. Specifically, check if you have updated your Flash, Browser, Operating Systems, etc.

ADVANCING AS AN ACADEMIC: Moving Toward Tenure and Promotion
May 15- May 17, 2018
The workshop will be lead by Kara Poe Alexander, Director of the Baylor University Writing Center and accomplished scholar. The sessions will run from 12:00-3:00 Tuesday, 9:30-3:00 Wednesday, and 9:30-1:00 Thursday.

You can go ahead and RSVP by emailing rsvp2ac@acu.edu for ADVANCING AS AN ACADEMIC here or call 325-674-2455. Looking forward to having you there!

DIGITAL STORYTELLING WORKSHOP
May 15 – May 17, 2018

The Learning Studio will also be hosting a Digital Storytelling workshop May 15-17. This three-day workshop leads you through the process of creating a media project. Participants will learn media storytelling strategies as they develop skills in audio recording and image/video editing, so we hope you’ll join us even if you’ve never worked with media before.

Here is a quick summary of the workshop:
DAY 1: Talk about the elements of story, begin sharing stories and working on scripts
DAY 2: Gather images, begin editing stories and recording audio.
DAY 3: Finalize editing and production and screen all films. (should be finished early-afternoon)

There are a limited number of slots, so please RSVP today if you can join us by emailing rsvp2ac@acu.edu or call 325-674-2455.

Lunches will be in the Adams Center and then all participants will be invited to a final dinner Thursday night (optional).

See the video above to hear from faculty who participated in past workshops. Hope you can join us.

The transformational power of Study Abroad for our students is inextricably linked to place. One of the ways that scholars talk about the theory of “place” is that it sets the stage for human encounters. As ACU students live and study in the communities of Leipzig, Montevideo, and Oxford, they embody these encounters – when they explore, worship, and learn, even buy groceries – and through them begin to consider other versions of themselves and the world.

In anticipation of the Leipzig Villa Grand Opening, the Adams Center, the CAS Dean’s Office, and the Center for International Education wondered what kinds of faculty conversations and experiences could happen in Leipzig to further our goals for study abroad, especially in light of the experiential learning focus of the strategic plan.

One of the purposes of the trip was to give faculty the opportunity to experience places that are part of students’ curriculum, such as a city walking tour and excursions to Wittenberg and Buchenwald. However, most of the work of the trip was spent in making connections in the Leipzig community and thinking deeply about outcomes of Study Abroad, how to increase student participation, and what obstacles need to be addressed.

On our first afternoon in Leipzig, we considered what it means to think about a city as a text – to encounter Leipzig intentionally and incarnationally, not as tourists. We talked about cultivating habits of attention, mastering the vocabularies needed to interpret a place, and connecting small details to larger historical, political, and sociological questions.

On Wednesday, the President/Rector of HTWK, Leipzig University of Applied Science, welcomed us, and we toured science labs and media production spaces, in anticipation of partnerships for ACU faculty and students studying in Leipzig.

On Thursday, we applied design thinking principles to consider high-impact practices for our students and to be frank about obstacles for students, faculty, departments, and degrees.

On Friday, as we wrapped up, faculty were all over Leipzig meeting with potential partners in hospitals, engineering labs, art galleries, and student service providers.

As one might imagine, the time in Leipzig was full of conversation between faculty, administrators, advisors, and trustees: about Leipzig, about our disciples and connections among them, and about the dreams we have for our students and their opportunities to change the world.

(Don’t forget that the Leipzig Faculty Fellow is an opportunity to participate and cultivate these conversations in Leipzig.)

Imagine the ACU Leipzig villa filled with ACU students, community members, German students, and various faculty. There’s just been a concert, or an evening lecture, or a shared meal, and now people are sipping coffee, snacking on dessert, and standing in small groups discussing the evening’s events, sharing in rich conversations about the world and our place in it from a variety of perspectives and with a wide range of people.

The role of the Leipzig Faculty Fellow is to cultivate such experiences, allowing the Leipzig campus to be a hub of intellectual conversation among ACU students, faculty, and members of the academic and civic communities in Leipzig. The fellow’s role might include hosting coffee-house conversations, mini-conferences, or lyceum, inviting community members and students to engage with one another and their enriching study-abroad environment.

Each semester one faculty fellow will spend a significant portion of a semester in Leipzig working on a research or creative project. The proposed project requires that the fellow spend a significant percentage of their release time in building connections with local Leipzig professionals and community members and providing a minimum of two student experiences connected to the work of the fellow.

The Leipzig Faculty Fellow will build on existing connections in Leipzig and work to develop new ones, contributing to innovative, experiential learning opportunities for both students in residence at the time of the fellowship and those future students who would benefit. As new relationships are formed, discipline-specific opportunities in Leipzig increase, allowing for new course offerings, connections to diverse majors, and a wider range of faculty who can participate.

Study abroad is a high-impact practice, and student outcomes from participating in a study abroad experience include: increased connection to academic content, increased ability to think critically about complex issues and situations, increased ability to work and live cross-culturally, increased personal development in ambiguous circumstances, and greater self-efficacy and overall self-confidence. The Leipzig Faculty Fellow’s role will connect directly to these learning outcomes, making important connections between students, academic disciplines, and the community of Leipzig. The required minimum of two student experiences provides the opportunity for ACU students to interact with the Leipzig community in new innovative, experiential learning activities each semester that a faculty fellow is in residence.

Awards and Eligibility

Leipzig Faculty Fellow awards are contingent on merit and available funding. Applications are reviewed initially by the department chairperson and dean of the faculty member, who then provide a form directly to the review panel. The Leipzig Faculty Fellow Review Panel reviews all materials and makes recommendations. The fellowship is awarded for one semester and provides the recipients with funding to cover transportation to and from Leipzig, a stipend of up to $5000 for cost of living and project costs, a furnished living space in the ACU Leipzig Villa, and departmental funding to cover the courses that the recipient would have taught during the semester.

In most cases, the minimum time and energy a recipient devotes to these awards must be equal to a normal semester’s work. If the faculty member is proposing a project requiring less time, the faculty member should justify the time allowances. Other work unrelated to the leave project is strongly discouraged and will be a factor in determining the granting of a fellowship. Applicants who expect to be engaged in other work during the semester (compensated or not) must notify the review panel of the possibility and document the fact that such work will not interfere with the completion of the proposed project. Recipients should not be recipients of a Faculty Renewal Leave in the same or subsequent semesters as receiving a fellowship.

The Chair’s Review Form and Dean’s Review Form are linked below and are due electronically on or before the last Monday in January to the Faculty Fellow Review Panel. The independent reviews by deans and chairs are evaluation documents indicating that the department/college is in support of such a project. They are confidential and should be submitted separately from the application.

Outcomes/Deliverables

Upon completion of the fellowship semester, recipients should provide a narrative to the Review Panel containing the following information:

Description of work

Key Players and their contact information

Outcomes for students, recipients, Leipzig partners, and ACU

Based on the experience you created, who is the main audience (students — possibly specific majors — experts, the community) for this programming? How might components of the experiences you created be useful to students in the future? What recommendations do you have for continuing and furthering the work that you began through this fellowship?

Evaluations

Each application will be evaluated by the members of the Leipzig Faculty Fellow Review Panel based upon the criteria listed below. Please note that the worth of a project can be judged only by the written proposal.

Overall quality of the project (75%)

Description and rationale of the project

Contribution to student and program growth and development in Leipzig

Enhancement of professional growth of the applicant

Enhancement of ACU’s image and reputation

Likelihood of successful completion (25%)

Application

Application Format

Applicants should submit a word document containing a narrative addressing the following information by emailing it to the Adams Center at laura.carroll@acu.eduby the last Monday in January.

General Information

Name

Department

Rank

Have you led Study Abroad experiences before? When and where?

Semester for which faculty fellow role leave is sought

Length of proposed project

Length of proposed residence in Leipzig

How many years of full-time service do you have at ACU?

Description and Rationale of the Proposed Project

Title

Theme of the project, connecting to your discipline and Leipzig

Describe the conversations that you hope to host as faculty fellow

Describe connections to student outcomes

What are the expected tangible products (e.g., coffee-house conversations, concerts, art exhibitions, mini-conferences, or liceum) of this project? (Reminder – there must be a minimum of two student experiences connected to the work of the fellow)

What connections will you need to make in the Leipzig community to facilitate these conversations/products?

Value of Proposed Project

What is the value of this project to your discipline?

How will Study Abroad benefit?

How will ACU students and faculty benefit?

In what other ways will this project enhance ACU’s image and reputation?

Are there any other expected long-term benefits of this project?

Signature – Please sign the proposal.

Supporting Data

Before the Leipzig Faculty Fellow Review Panel will consider an application, the Chair’s and Dean’s Review Forms must be in the Adams Center by the announced deadline.

In addition, the application must include the following:

Current curriculum vita (including teaching, research, and service)

Other supporting data (e.g., if you have or need them, letter[s] from institution[s] you will be working with in Leipzig, itinerary, etc. This is not required to have at the time of application, but if you do have them, please include them.)

The Review Panel consists of the Director of Faculty Development, representative(s) of the Faculty Development Committee, the Executive Director of the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Executive Director of the Center for International Education.

Link

As we prepare to begin a new school year, the Adams Center staff would like to reflect upon and share with you the variety of work we did in 2016-2017. Click on the link below to see our end of year summary and learn about some new projects.

The Adams Center will host 5 Reading Groups this Fall. If you have questions or would like to register you may call Tammy at 325-674-2023 or send an email to rsvp2ac@acu.edu. Times and dates are below.

Join us in thinking about transforming our teaching, our students, and ourselves this year in the Adams Center. We’ll kick off our year with Faculty Fusion on Friday, August 18, 2017, 8:30am-1:00pm. Come for breakfast, learning, and lunch!

You can RSVP for activities here, by emailing rsvp2ac@acu.edu, or by calling the Adams Center at 325-674-2455. Registering saves your spot in each session and allows us to know how many to expect. We look forward to seeing you!

8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast: Adams Center

9:00-9:50 Session 1

Using screencasting to give students feedback (The Woods) — Berlin Fang

If you find that you spend too much time typing feedback, only to be ignored by students, perhaps you should try using screencast to give feedback to students. Research shows that students perceive such feedback favorably. Students are also more likely to use such feedback to improve their work. Come to this session to learn how to create screencast feedback and use it to improve student learning!

Engaging Spiritually with Students (The Classroom) — Amy Boone

What are college students thinking about faith? What are they wondering? What frustrates them about religion? Come explore tangible ways to engage spiritually with students in and out of class.

Introduction to Specifications Grading (Bamboo Room) — Suzie Macaluso

In this session we will introduce you to Specifications Grading as developed by Linda Nilson. We will look at syllabi from Specifications graded courses and actual assignment details. Following this introduction there will be a book group that meets throughout the semester in which we discuss the book and workshop course syllabi to include Specifications Grading.

10:00-10:50 Session 2

20/20 Innovation Grants: What We Learned in the First Year (The Classroom)

In this session, you’ll hear from a few of the 2016/17 recipients of the 20/20 Envisioning the Future of Education Teaching and Innovation Grants about their projects’ successes and failures and what we learned from those. In addition, find out how you can apply for future 20/20 grants.

What did you read on your summer vacation? (Bamboo Room) — Laura Carroll

Come find out what we’ll be reading in our three reading groups this fall and share what’s been on your reading list this summer, from heady academic reads to pulpy beach fiction

Using screencasting to give students feedback (The Woods) — Berlin Fang

If you find that you spend too much time typing feedback, only to be ignored by students, perhaps you should try using screencast to give feedback to students. Research shows that students perceive such feedback favorably. Students are also more likely to use such feedback to improve their work. Come to this session to learn how to create screencast feedback and use it to improve student learning!

Interested in assigning a media project or sharing audio or video with your class? Come see the redesigned One Button Studio and media production suites upstairs in the Learning Studio. We’ll share tips for teaching with media and describe how we provide training and web resources to support your students.

Designing Assignments for Student Success (The Woods) — Laura Carroll

Research indicates that that creating transparent assignments “boosts students’ success (and especially underserved students’ success) significantly in three important areas: academic confidence, sense of belonging, and mastery of the skills employers value most when hiring.” Join us to learn about the principles of transparent assignments and to have a chance to think about your own assignments.

Engaging Spiritually with Students (The Classroom) — Amy Boone

What are college students thinking about faith? What are they wondering? What frustrates them about religion? Come explore tangible ways to engage spiritually with students in and out of class.

The Adams Center will host 4 Reading Groups this Fall. If you have questions or would like to register you may call Tammy at 325-674-2023 or send an email to rsvp2ac@acu.edu. Times and dates are below.

As we prepare to begin a new school year, the Adams Center staff would like to reflect upon and share with you the variety of work we did in 2015-2016. Click on the link below to see our end of year summary and learn about some new projects.

Let’s create together at Faculty Fusion, August 12, 2016, 8:30am-1:00pm. Please join us in the Adams Center for breakfast, learning, and lunch.

You can RSVP for activities here, by emailing rsvp2ac@acu.edu or by calling the Adams Center at 325-674-2455. Registering saves your spot in each session and allows us to know how many to expect. We look forward to seeing you!

8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast: Adams Center

9:00-9:50 Session 1

Save Time, Prevent Cheating, and Provide Swift Feedback: Testing in Canvas (Woods) — David Christianson and Berlin Fang
If you still use Scantrons or paper and pencil for quizzes and exams, come find out how using Canvas can make grading easier, testing more secure, and feedback to students more effective.

Welcome to Stage 1: Faculty Video Projects (Meet in Foyer of Adams Center) — Melissa Henderson
If you haven’t toured the redesigned main studio upstairs, we invite you to a hand-on introduction to Stage 1. Whether you have a couple lecture videos you’d like to record or would like to try out the new greenscreen or Lightboard setup, Melissa Henderson will show you how even first-timers can give their video project a professional look.

Teaching Like a Christian? (Classroom) — David Kneip
Christian faculty sometimes struggle to find ways to integrate their Christianity and their pedagogy. Come encounter ideas for deepening the connections between your faith and your teaching and discover ways these methods connect to tried-and-true Christian practices.

iF (Innovation Foundry, 3rd Floor)— Marisa Beard

The Innovation Foundry is a new teamwork and technology hub in the ACU library located in the southwest corner of the 3rd floor. We offer coaching and support to help connect your students to the resources they need in designing and publishing their work to the web, as well as other real-world applications.

Creativity Challenge (Collaboration Space)— Nil Santana

10:00-10:50 Session 2

Sparking Creativity in the Classroom, (Classroom) — Kyle Dickson & Mike Wiggins
What part does creativity play in the university? In what way is creativity related to our work as scholars, researchers, and teachers in a range of disciplines? As part of the 20/20 Teaching Innovations program, Mike and Kyle will introduce upcoming opportunities to reflect upon and practice the creative process to better understand its role in 21st-century teaching and learning.

Big Classes and Big Questions, (Woods) — Rodney Ashlock
Large classes pose many pedagogical challenges for teachers. This session will focus on how to create a positive classroom environment so that learning can take place even when lecture is the dominant mode of instruction.

New Integration, New Look: Using Turnitin Feedback Studio in Canvas (Bamboo Room)— David Christianson and Berlin Fang
Some of you may use Turnitin mainly to detect plagiarism, but the tool can actually be used for more than that. It can make grading easier. It allows you to give dynamic feedback, facilitate peer evaluation and even does word count for you! In the past three months, both the integration of Turnitin in Canvas and the Turnitin interface itself have changed. In this session, the instructional designers will demonstrate how to use the new Turnitin in Canvas.

Creativity Challenge (Collaboration Space) — Nil Santana

11:00-11:50 Session 3

Teaching Like a Christian? (Classroom)– David Kneip
Christian faculty sometimes struggle to find ways to integrate their Christianity and their pedagogy. Come encounter ideas for deepening the connections between your faith and your teaching and discover ways these methods connect to tried-and-true Christian practices.

What did you read on your summer vacation? (Bamboo Room) — Laura Carroll
Come find out what we’ll be reading in our three reading groups this fall and share what’s been on your reading list this summer, from heady academic reads to pulpy beach fiction.

Welcome to Stage 1: Faculty Video Projects, (Woods) — Melissa Henderson
If you haven’t toured the redesigned main studio upstairs, we invite you to a hand-on introduction to Stage 1. Whether you have a couple lecture videos you’d like to record or would like to try out the new greenscreen or Lightboard setup, Melissa Henderson will show you how even first-timers can give their video project a professional look.